adminLONDON . — Sadio Mane’s late equaliser for Southampton denied Jurgen Klopp his first victory as Liverpool manager. The German’s side dominated possession during the match and took the lead when Christian Benteke headed in James Milner’s cross from the right. But with four minutes left, Mane bundled in when Gaston Ramirez’s header across goal was palmed by keeper Simon Mignolet into the body of the forward.
Mane was then sent off in stoppage time after picking up two late yellows. The draw moves the Saints up to eighth, with Liverpool up to ninth and level on 14 points. Played three, won zero, drawn three, scored two and conceded two. Klopp has laid the foundations of how he wants his side to play, but does he have right equipment with which to achieve what he managed with Borussia Dortmund.
Let’s start with the positive – the Reds have appeared to become, in such a short space of time, a team that is hard to defeat.
The energy spent by the hunting packs in closing down space when Southampton had the ball was a joy to watch. Known as a form of gegenpressing – immediate countering the counter-attack of the team – the Reds consistently enjoyed over 60% of possession and reduced the Saints to just three efforts on goal and eight in total.
The counter to that, and something that could be a recurrent issue in his first season, is that Klopp does not appear to have the necessary attacking players to make that possession count in the opposition’s third.
Liverpool barely threatened at that end today, and in fact, prior to Benteke’s goal, they only managed one effort on target. — BBC Sport.
Online Reporter